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The world doesn't realize that the accountant or the construction worker needs to come home and listen to music and have art and architecture affect their lives in a beautiful way, even if they don't know [it], even if they don't realize that it's affecting 'em. -Jim James |
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Photo by: Dave Vann
"I feel like we've bought ourselves artistic freedom by always being really clear with our record labels [about] having full creative control, full artistic control, full control of the album artwork, every single thing. I never wanted to worry for one second about anything I wanted being questioned or taken away," says a proud James.
 My Morning Jacket by Dave Vann |
This creative freedom has fostered an atmosphere where anything is possible. A place where My Morning Jacket can go in any direction, and whether it's conscious or not, that direction almost always touches on something bigger.
"That's why I think the spiritual side of it is so important," says James, "because sometimes I get tired of music and I think about how many people have made records with guitars and drum sets and basses and all that shit. And it's funny because when you listen to a record that has no spirit, you hear just some dudes playing guitars and basses, but if you listen to a record that you love it's almost like it turns into this thing where it doesn't matter what they're using. It all turns into this big, beautiful painting or whatever, and it's no longer guitars or basses or voices - it's just this thing."
There could perhaps be no better analogy for My Morning Jacket's sound than a painting. When the Jacket hit their stride brushes full of color fly across the mind's canvas. Like James said, it stops being guitars, drums and singing, and the pieces come together to form a single entity far greater than any words I could hope to muster. Take for example the vocals. Often when a jam is getting heated and someone starts to sing it grounds the listener, connecting them to a storyline or chorus phrase, but when James' reverb-juiced howls float into the sky they stop being a man singing and become another splash of paint on the mural. They don't bring you back - they ignite liftoff.
It's possible that James, bassist Two Tone Tommy, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel and keyboardist Bo Koster exist in this echelon of "artists" like Radiohead, Wilco, Bjork and The Flaming Lips (all bands name checked by James) because they understand the core value of art just for art's sake.
"To keep seeing arts funding get cut over and over again," James cuts himself off and restarts, "The world thinks it can exist without art. The world doesn't realize that the accountant or the construction worker needs to come home and listen to music and have art and architecture affect their lives in a beautiful way, even if they don't know [it], even if they don't realize that it's affecting 'em. So, it's like they think they're cutting arts funding to save money and make more money in other places but in the end it's only going to end up shooting everybody in the foot."
LIBRARIAN
What is it inside our heads that makes us do the opposite?
Makes us do the opposite of what's right for us?
Cause everything'd be grrreat and everything'd be good
If everybody gave like everybody could.
 My Morning Jacket by Autumn de Wilde |
By the time I meet James, Hallahan and some of the crew for dinner at a quaint Berkeley restaurant, the interview portion of our time is long over. James has had a taxing flight with multiple delays and we're no longer unraveling Big Ticket items. Religion and spirits, transcendent guitar solos and talk of how drugs are "overrated" has turned to salmon (what Jim got) and ribs (what I got). The guys are excited but tired. The next night is a big one. They are playing The Greek, hallowed grounds in the Bay Area and we'd soon find out perfect acoustics for the Jacket's massive sound to stomp around in (read the review here). Somewhere between a triumphant "Mahgeetah" and a dark, twisted "Dondante," the beautiful "Librarian" reached a peak when James sang out, "Cause everything'd be grrreat and everything'd be good/ if everybody gave like everybody could." Standing amongst the swaying congregation, I couldn't help but feel connected to something bigger than myself, this band or this single experience, and I was sucked back to my talk the previous day with James:
"Everybody is the same and everybody needs the same things. I think that's why music, good music, kind of speaks to that timeless essence or pure consciousness that's in every living being," says James. "I think music is a form of that, and I think that kind of ties into the whole religion/spiritual thing, because I think if you go out and make any effort in the world to travel or go to different parts of your town or try and meet different people and see what people of all different races and creeds and stuff are up to, everybody's looking for the same thing. We all want to be loved. We all want to be taken care of. We all want to be fed and take care of our families and have a roof over our head. I think that's one thing that hopefully - I'm hoping with fingers crossed - that we're coming out of a dark time and into a better time where there's a more level playing field between the rich and the poor. And it would just be really great to see things even out and to see people kind of recognize that in each other more, this kind of essence that everybody deserves to have a fair, nice life."
Looking at the front page of the newspaper or into our bank accounts might not make us feel like life is fair or nice, but if we study the success a band like MMJ has enjoyed, perhaps there is hope after all.
2008 was the year of the Jacket. It all started in March at the annual South by Southwest music conference/schmoozefest. The buzz in Austin was ridiculous. From the minute one stepped off the plane into the humid air all you heard was talk of Evil Urges (which wouldn't come out for another three months) and the availability of tickets to their Wednesday night show at the tiny Parish (which would prove a revelation for those of us fortunate enough to get through the door). The following months found the band garnering more praise than ever, selling out amphitheaters and sheds, playing major slots at festivals around the world, landing on the covers of mainstream magazines, getting serious airplay with their singles, their new album debuting at #9 on the Billboard charts, and even getting a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album. And if you need more tangible, hard evidence consider this: The last time MMJ played a NYE show they did three epic nights at San Francisco's 1100-person Fillmore Auditorium to celebrate 2006 passing into 2007. This year, to end 2008, they are set to play America's biggest stage, Madison Square Garden on New Year's Eve. It doesn't get any bigger and bands simply don't get any better, and that's why all of us at JamBase are proud to crown My Morning Jacket as our Band of the Year.
JamBase | Golden
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